“URBANE will explore the links between farming practices and health as it applies a One Health approach for tackling issues related to the application & intensification of peri-urban agriculture and the health of animals, humans and the ecosystem as a whole. URBANE supports sustainability through applied agroecology, allowing the achievement of better health of humans, animals and the ecosystem in general. Through sustainable agroecological practices in the peri-urban environment, URBANE aims to make cities more sustainable and inclusive, while boosting the productivity of small-scale food producers located in the peri-urban environment. The project promotes agroecology by building on local knowledge with the support of new technologies and the application of best practices. The use of novel tools and the engagement of local knowledge will be used to inform decision making and achieve a high impact. The URBANE decision support system will be delivered in two versions: a) for farmers in the form of a friendly application and b) for authorities providing information on the potential dangers and the environmental and crop yield impact of the application of agroecological farming practices. Formulation of policy recommendations resulting from the project’s results will support the broader adoption of the URBANE approach and help towards meeting the Sustainable Development Goals, Green Deal and Africa-EU Partnership goals.”

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

Climate change accelerates biodiversity decline and biodiversity loss intensifies climate breakdown. Current national commitments under the Paris Agreement and the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework do not live up to these challenges. Nature-based Climate Action (NBCA) understood as multi-actor, cross-sectoral collaborative commitments that integrate nature and biodiversity considerations within climate mitigation and adaptation strategies have the potential to complement national commitments, while responding to climate change-induced risks to (i) terrestrial and ocean ecosystems, (ii) living standards, and (iii) human health. The overall objective of the BioCAM4 consortium project is to develop methodologies for mapping NBCA trends worldwide and assessing local opportunities and challenges through deep-dive studies in two biodiversity hot-spot world regions: East Africa and Central America, where vulnerable groups and communities are among the most affected by climate impacts, least responsible for it, and have reduced adaptive capacity due to social and economic fragility. Overall, the interdisciplinary and trans-sectoral BioCAM4 consortium project pursues three specific objectives: 1. A comprehensive global mapping and analysis of NBCAs and an open-access database to offer insights on global NBCA distribution, patterns, and performance. Understanding of global trends will inform global climate change and biodiversity processes. 2. Context-specific and locally relevant exploration of local dynamics of NBCAs in four localities across two regions that are highly biodiverse: Virunga and Lake Victoria regions in East Africa, and Trifinio and Brunca regions in Central America. We uncover how biophysical, cultural and institutional factors affect community action for implementing NBCAs, understand action situations and actor interactions therein, and their outputs, outcomes, and impacts to inform performance assessments at global level and provide evidence-based, justice-driven insights for multi-level policy guidance. 3. Co-creation of knowledge mobilization and policy outreach to translate research insights into policy guidance for equitable funding flows and resources that strengthen the capacity of local actors to design, implement and maintain effective and inclusive NBCAs in the project's focus areas and worldwide. Research co-creation and policy outreach at global and local levels will strengthen capacity for NBCAs.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.

In migratory Atlantic salmon, the process whereby young fish born in freshwater streams (parr) become migratory 'smolts' and go to sea represents a crucial life-history transition, involving complex behavioural and physiological changes. Most mysterious amongst these is the acquisition of an olfactory 'imprint' of the natal stream, prior to smolt migration, upon which return as adults later depends. Similarly the neural and neuroendocrine events governing the precise spring timing of the parr-smolt transition (PST) are also very poorly understood. Hence practical definition of the smolt phenotype is largely based on behaviour or unreliable gross traits such as 'silverness', manifest long after the process has been initiated. Molecular physiological and genetic understanding of these processes is potentially of major value for management of wild and farmed Atlantic populations. This project will take a multi-pronged approach to address this problem, capitalising on a unique combination of expertises and resources. Using parr reared in semi-natural conditions at the Scottish Office, Fisheries Research Services (FRS) facility at Almondbank & in dedicated photoperiod / temperature controlled aquaria at the University of Aberdeen, we will (a) assess the expression patterns of key elements of the neuroendocrine system recently shown to play a key role in driving seasonal changes in physiology in other vertebrate groups, but so far unexplored in fish and (b) use new generation ultra-high throughput sequencing methods to generate genome wide profiles of gene expression in the hypothalamus/pituitary and the olfactory epithelium during the PST. Together these approaches will yield candidate genes for upstream regulators of key neural aspects of PST, and begin to address the question of extent to which changes in the neuroendocrine system drive or parallel changes in the olfactory epithelium. In further experiments, the expression of these genes will be assessed during PST in fish from high and lowland streams, which show distinctive timing of PST. This will allow us to define the molecular events in both the neuroendocrine and olfactory systems through which differential timing of migratory behaviour and physiology develops. Collectively these studies will greatly advance understanding of the neurobiology of PST.